Without Donovan Mitchell, Cavs tie the NBA’s second-best start with 15-0 record

Even without team star Donovan Mitchell, the Cavaliers have proved that they work as a team and have won their last game with a 128-114 victory against the Hornets on Sunday evening. Ty Jerome matched his career high with 24 points while replacing their All-Star guard, while Darius Garland dropped in 25.

Cleveland have now become the fourth team to ever begin 15-0 in the NBA and are now tied for the second-best ever, trailing only behind Golden State’s 24-0 back in 2015, which set the league record on the way to a 73-9 campaign.

The Ohio club remain unbeaten while they try to surpass the Houston Rockets’ 15-0 in 1993-94, plus the Washington Capitols’ same record all the way back in 1948. All these teams, including the Warriors’ run one decade ago, made it to that season’s NBA Finals.

THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS TIE THE 2ND-LONGEST STREAK TO BEGIN A SEASON IN NBA HISTORY 🔥 pic.twitter.com/0nLfHgjmww

— ESPN (@espn) November 18, 2024

“It’s incredible,” said Allen, who had 21 points and 15 rebounds last night. “Everyone is showing tons of energy, all over the city. It’s incredible how Cleveland has adopted us. They come to every game, yelling for everything. The city of Cleveland has our backs.”

Now that the Cavaliers are set to face the Celtics this week, Allen recalled how he and co-star Mitchell missed out on crucial games against them during last season’s Eastern Conference semifinals. During that series, Cleveland were eliminated in five contests against Boston, who went on to conquer their first title in 16 years.

While Donovan didn’t play the last two games of that series, Jarrett missed out on the entirety of the five matches as he was still recovering from a broken rib. This is why he sees this game as a rematch, and hope to see if they actually measure up against the reigning champions.

“It’s a rematch,” Allen shared this Sunday night after beating the Hornets by 14 points. “I know they didn’t have some players. And we didn’t have me, so I want to try and beat them and test where we are with them.”

Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson sees their next challenge against Boston as they perfect “test” to prove themselves as worthy contenders

While the Cavs are living through a magical run, there is another historic feat on the road ahead. As they face the Celtics next, this would be only the fourth time in NBA history a club on a win streak of 15-plus games faces off against the defending NBA champion.

“It’s great for the NBA, right?” said coach Kenny Atkinson, who is now the only tactician to ever win his 15 first matches with a new squad. “Everybody is going to be watching, and I know our guys are anxious. I know they remember last year. We’re going well. They’re going well. It’s great for the league. Great for our franchise. We’re excited.”

In a way, Atkinson believes that against Boston this week might be the only way to prove themselves as worthy contenders to this year’s NBA title. “It’s going to be a great test for us,” he said.

“They obviously play a different style, five-out with five shooters, so it’s going to be a real good test for us. We’re at that point right now — 15-0 and let’s test ourselves against the best and see where we stand and see where we’re going to make adjustments or not make adjustments,” he assured on Sunday. “It actually comes at the perfect time.”